Robert Pattinson Does ‘GQ’ Magazine

Twilight star and all around global heartthrob Robert Pattinson is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of GQ magazine. In his coverstory interview, it is revealed that R. Pattz is incapable of lying and, apparently, incapable of allowing dead silence when engaged in conversation (or an interview, as the case may be) and if allowed to his own devices, will ramble on about things as varied as microwaves, microwave cheeseburgers, etc. admitting, “I just say the first thing that comes into my head out of nervousness. During interviews I’m literally shitting my pants. I don’t want there to be a silence, because I’ll start crying.” HMM, sounds like a fun guy to talk to. Here is R. Pattz’s GQ coverphoto and a portion of his interview with the mag:

Here is what Pattinson says about getting the part of Edward the vampire in Twilight: “I took half a Valium and then went into this thing—and all this stuff happened.” Okay—to be fair, that’s not all he tells us. He was on the verge of quitting acting, he says. He’d followed up what was, back then, the biggest role of his career—in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as Cedric Diggory, sort of the haughty blond Iceman to Harry’s Maverick—by getting fired from a play in London, where he grew up. He was in Los Angeles, crashing on his agent’s couch, looking for an American job. That’s all Twilight was to Pattinson, at first: an American job. He didn’t know about the cult, about the fans who’d followed Edward and Bella, his perpetually imperiled mortal lady friend, from the first book—which turned author Stephenie Meyer, a Mormon stay-at-home mom from Arizona, into the biggest publishing-industry phenomenon since Potter’s J. K. Rowling—through three increasingly thick-as-a-brick sequels. He didn’t know that as soon as the movie adaptation was announced, those Twilight fans—about 98.999 percent female and 100 percent fervent—started burning up Internet message boards with deeply felt opinions about which actors were right (and wrong, wrong, wr0ng!!!!) for the male lead. All he knew was that he couldn’t remember how to do an American accent. He was freaking out. Hence the pill. “It was the first time I’ve ever taken Valium,” he says after a second, perhaps realizing how this sounds. “A quarter. A quarter of a Valium. I tried to do it for another audition, and it just completely backfired—I was passing out.” (Don’t do drugs, kids.) He auditioned in Hardwicke’s bedroom; Hardwicke videotaped him and Stewart performing one of the movie’s big love scenes. By then, Hardwicke had already met with hundreds of potential Edwards. “I’d seen a zillion really cute guys,” she says. “But that was the problem. They all looked like the super-cute kid in your high school. The prom king, or the captain of the football team. They didn’t look like they were from another world and time.” They did the scene. There was a vibe. Hardwicke waited a day to decide—“No matter how much I fall in love with the person, I make myself review the tape, to make sure I wasn’t just overwhelmed by something in the air”—but says Stewart told her, right there in the room, “It has to be Rob.” “Everybody came in doing something empty and shallow and thoughtless,” Stewart says. “I know that’s a fucking great thing to say about all the other actors—but Rob understood that it wasn’t a frivolous role.” Hardwicke still had to convince Summit Entertainment, the studio bankrolling Twilight, that Pattinson was the guy. “There was a call from the head of the studio,” Hardwicke says. “ ‘Are you sure you can make this guy handsome?’” They sent him to a trainer, dyed his hair and cut it. Pattinson immersed himself in the lore—the novels and Midnight Sun, Meyer’s unpublished, unfinished retelling of Twilight from Edward’s point of view. (“I was a vampire, and she had the sweetest blood I’d smelled in eighty years.”) He showed up to shoot the movie with a lot of ideas about how it could be more than a horror-tinged tween romance. How Edward could be less like the turtlenecked Prince Charming from the novels—“If you met a guy like that in real life,” he says, “you’d think he was kind of dorky”—and more like the edgy dude burning himself with cigarettes in the corner at the high school party. Less hottie, more monster. He thought that at the end of the movie, when Edward and Bella slow-dance to Iron & Wine on prom night, they shouldn’t kiss. “I thought that would be interesting,” he says, “for a teen thing.” In the books, Edward refuses to go all the way with Bella, fearing he’ll vamp out in the heat of passion, but because he’s a 107-year-old vampire, he’s got seduction game like no 17-year-old alive. The story fuses the bodice-ripping True Love Never Dies sensuality of the vampire mythos with the True Love Waits ethos of Bush-era abstinence education; it’s a heavy-breathing romance in which all physical affection represents a slippery slope to horrible undeath. The movie amps up the lust. Bella and Edward’s relationship plays out like a goth remix of Splendor in the Grass, and Pattinson seethes like Warren Beatty driven—forgive us—batshit by a hundred-year case of blue balls. Twilight got mixed reviews but opened huge anyway, pulling down $70 million in three days. By then the screaming had started. Girls who’d been in love with Edward on the page suddenly had a real-live human to focus their passion on. The cast’s public appearances occasioned Hard Day’s Night hysteria. In London, Pattinson’s friends watched in horror as the crowd swallowed him. At a mall in San Francisco, Pattinson was supposed to sign autographs for about 500 fans at a Hot Topic store; a few thousand showed up. Pattinson claims not to remember the chaos that resulted, although he says it in a shaky voice, like someone claiming not to remember shit that went down in Nam. Pattinson says he’s always been hypersensitive about being looked at, that when he was a kid and somebody’d make eye contact with him on the bus or something, he’d freak out. He’s one of those tall people who hunch, trying to disappear. Then all this stuff happened. He wasn’t ready. His first thought, whenever he finds himself in one of these crowds, is always, Someone could very easily stab me.

The GQ interview goes on HERE where he interestingly mentions that he once witnessed a woman giving a man a blowjob in the parking lot of In-N-Out here in LA … among other topics like his supposed relationship with model Annelyse Schoenberger and/or actress/friend Camilla Belle. He also talks about the “hard-core sex scene” that he filmed with co-star Javier Beltrán in his upcoming movie Little Ashes. After the jump, read all about that experience and checkout the other photos of the heartthRob from this issue of GQ magazine …

Pattinson hasn’t shot anything new since Twilight wrapped. He won’t be in front of the camera again until this spring, when he starts shooting the next Twilight movie, New Moon, due out in November. But in the meantime, he’ll show up as young Salvador Dalí in a period drama called Little Ashes, about the pre-fame bromance between Dalí, director Luis Buñuel, and poet Federico García Lorca. Pattinson auditioned for the movie two years ago, during a post–Harry Potter, pre-Twilight career lull. He’d been thinking about putting acting aside to focus on music. (Two of his songs, including the Jeff Buckley–ish ballad “Never Think,” appear on the Twilight soundtrack.) He’d read for the Lorca part, but when they asked him to play Dalí, he said yes. “I wanted to have a vacation in Spain,” he says. “But it became just—really, really hard. I’d never done a job that was so hard.” There was no budget. Most of the crew spoke Spanish; Pattinson didn’t. He spent a lot of time by himself, trying to figure out how to play the part, worried he’d look like an idiot. (For what it’s worth, all that effort is up there on the screen. Pattinson’s Dalí starts out as a walleyed, puffy-shirted Simple Jack type before morphing into the twirly-mustachioed culture-hero Dalí of dorm-room-poster fame. It’s one of those movies in which you can tell Dalí’s having an aesthetic breakthrough because he starts pressing really hard when he paints.) “In a lot of ways,” Pattinson says, “I was kind of crossing lines of what I thought I was comfortable doing. I had to do all this naked stuff.” See, Little Ashes contains a fair amount of homoerotic activity, some of which is portrayed artfully and obliquely (Dalí and Lorca dive together in a moonlit sea) and some of which is, y’know, not (Lorca makes athletic, spiteful love to a woman while Dalí masturbates gloomily in a corner). It’s the kind of project you could imagine a guy in Pattinson’s place taking on post-Twilight as a way of telling the world he’s versatile and/or fearless. Except it wasn’t. “I thought I’d never get another acting job again,” Pattinson says. “So I was like, ‘Yeah—why not try to do something weird?’ There’s all these gay sex scenes. And y’know, I haven’t even done a sex scene with a girl, in my whole career.” (While he says this, he’s pinching the skin on the back of his left hand and sort of twisting it clockwise with his right.) “And here I am, with Javier [Beltrán], who plays Lorca, doing an extremely hard-core sex scene, where I have a nervous breakdown afterward. And because we’re both straight, what we were doing seemed kind of ridiculous.” (Now he’s sort of laughing.) “Trying to do it doggie-style. Trying to have a nervous breakdown while doing it doggie-style. And it wasn’t even a closed set. There were all these Spanish electricians giggling to themselves.” He’s pretty sure the only reason Little Ashes is getting any kind of promotional push is that he’s in it. “It’s nothing,” he says. “It would never have been released. I mean, that’s a terrible thing to say, but this was a movie where we didn’t even have stand-ins! We were scrambling, the entire time. We didn’t even have trailers.” He hasn’t actually seen the finished film. He says he hasn’t seen any movie he’s been in since the Potter movies—not even Twilight. He took his mom to the American Twilight premiere, squirmed through the first ten minutes, then bolted. “I went out and sat in the car,” he says, “having a full-blown panic attack.” Ten minutes in, he looked up and realized someone was videotaping him.

He’s prolly right about the fact that the movie would prolly not have been released (in theaters, at least) if it weren’t for the fame he achieved with Twilight. That said, I’m sure there will be hordes of fangirls and boys lining up so see this “naked stuff” that he did for Little Ashes. HMMM. I do have to say, for the record, that I can see a good actor inside Robert Pattinson. There’s something about him that hints at a career bigger than the Twilight Saga. I’m curious to see Little Ashes to determine if he really is able to shine in a movie that was “nothing” and yet, he committed to appearing in. I bet his performance in the film will be impressive. And, if not … there’s all that “naked stuff” in the film that is bound to entertain. All in all, I really like this interview with him. I got to talk with Robert Pattinson for a bit at the 2008 MTV VMAs last September and his manner then is very much like his manner in this GQ interview. You can read the interview online HERE but be sure to pick up a hardcopy on newsstands this week so that you can tack up these photos inside your locker, on your bedroom walls or in your office cubicles … whatever the case may be :)

I do think that Robert will be a good actor. Im very intrested in the Little Ashes movie and I do believe that he will be around for the long run compared to the others.

Love R-Patz

Blair

Hasnt Cedric Diggory done well for himself.

robin

why do hot english guys all have to smoke??

Roxster

I think he is very talented as well, and Little Ashes has shown a lot of promise from what I’ve seen. i was never really into him, though I liked the idea of him playing Edward, until I heard a lengthy interview with him…you can tell he rambles out of nerves but nonetheless he comes out with these absolutely hysterical and snide remarks, but still comes off as pretty humble. You can tell he is just wondering “what am I doing here? and why me not someone else?” Kristen is sort of the same way, but she comes off as more pissed off about it..she can’t even give GQ an easy quote without dropping the f bomb.

Cassie

It’s nice to hear him being honest about how freaked out he is about all of this hysteria surrounding him. Quite often the panic attacks are hidden and not discussed in interviews.

girlygirl

oooh – is it just me or does his face in the color shot look really weird and creepy and crooked? not good.

Samantha

AHHHH HOT!
I love his interviews. I’m sneaking on here in class so I don’t think I’ll let myself read this one right now, but he looks gorgeous in those photos! I’m going to have to buy this mag and give the interview the attention it deserves lol

Janet

Can I just say that I love the fact that he reads about himself on the gossip blogs and reads the naughty Twilight fan fiction? That is totally awesome, especially that he admits it.

RED

I love him. I feel for him being in such frenzied surroundings but he’s just great to hear speak.

Taylor

Uh is this the twilight dude or sawyer from lost? Just look at that last picture!! They look alike!

nicole

after reading about Little Ashes, im very interested in this movie. something about it caught my eye. and i think Robert will do just fine, i see a lot of potential in him as an actor.

The photographs are HOT! Shame about the one where he’s smoking…. smoking is so unattractive and unhealthy I don’t think it should be portrayed glamourous, esp with the young following Robert has. He may smoke, ick, but fine it’s his choice to do what ever he wants in private but to do so for a publication is wrong.

I’m by no means getting up on a soap box. I’ve just lost too many smokers in my life to cancer.

Apart from that, Rob is just lovely.

jill

I just saw him get killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named this weekend.

jess

my god – his head is about as big as Trent and Davids new bed..blech.

Grace

sounds pretty humble. he’s more intelligent than i has initially thought. overwhelmingly more mature than kristen stewart. nice, i like this guy!

Jerika

“(While he says this, he’s pinching the skin on the back of his left hand and sort of twisting it clockwise with his right.) ”

I mean, interesting interview/article, but that part just stood out to me like, who the heck cares?

Cherron

aahhhh. i loveee him. <333.

Michelle

I can’t imagine anyone but him playing Edward. When I found out he was playing the part I had yet to read any of the books so to me he was Cedric from HP. Then 24 hours before the release of the movie when I actually got down to reading the book there was no one I could see being Edward but him… I think he’s terriffic. And it’s not so easy for a British actor to work an American accent and he just does it and brings out that whole “iother worldliness” thing he’s got going on. I can’t wait for the the next 3 movies!

Kimberly

I don’t know how many times I’ve blogged this on however many websites but I love this dork of a man! Even though he’s this super-HOT guy, I’m more in love with his silliness-factor. I love that he rambles about anything and everything. Rob, just marry me and you won’t have to worry about proposing to any crazy people anymore.

I’m still not impressed. Yes, he’s attractive. Yes, he seems normal. I still think he’s a tool and that anything concerning the Twilight franchise is getting too much attention. The book sucked. The movie sucked. Can we be done with it?

He’s such an amazing actor. Did anyone see him in The Haunted Airman? I hated Cedric, so I freaked when everyone told me he was playing Edward in Twilight. So I did some research and watched The Haunted Airman and I was sold. He’s an incredible actor. Twilight didn’t show enough of his talent but I bet Little Ashes will be awesome. Can’t wait to watch it :D

A

Goddamnit I wish smoking on boys wasn’t hot but it freaking well is, i love it, i love him, he’s thoughtful, intelligent and has a lot of integrity which seems to be hard to find in celebland.

elle

gorg, except the one with the cancer stick. I do not like Camilla Belle, her eyebrows annoy me.

april

A friend and I saw a screening of an indie film that he did, “How To Be..” and it’s very good! I know that it’s a little biased since I’m a Rob Pattinson fan, but the movie is very different from his Twilight character! I would suggest watching it, there’s a tour going on right now actually.

hannah

CT from the Real World looks like him!

Ingrid

He is starting to look like Patrick Roy to me. Especially in the color photo. Nice.

just read the Rob Pattinson interview with GQ. I’m in my 30’s and I have 2 teenage kids, so I have no business admitting, (I said “admitting”) that I find him incredibly dreamy, hot, cute, whatever…So I won’t…admit it…it’s just wrong. He’s too young. But I will say this about his comments on not being able to watch himself cuz he’s concerned about coming across as fake: ROB! don’t take this personally, but when we sit to watch a movie, we’re not interested in seeing ROB’s true emotions. We want to see the emotions of the character your portraying. And you deliver. Period. You and Kristen were awesome. Your audiance saw Bella and Edward, not Kristen and Rob. I will never understand how Brad Pitt got to be the mega star he is today. Other than his looks, what is it? I don’t think he’s a good actor. When I watch his movies, all I can see is Brad Pitt. I never see the character he’s trying to play and I always walk away from his movies feeling dissapointed and thinking, “wow, I could have waited for that one to come out on DVD” After watching Twilight (my daughter would not leave me alone until I finally sat down and watched it with her this weekend), I felt dissapointed that I didn’t see it as soon as it came out in theaters! Your performance and Kristen’s was, I believe, 99.9% of the movie’s magic and success. You’ve managed to bring to life a character from a book that girls and women everywhere were reading and could only imagine- and in doing so you mangaged to suck in the hearts and minds of girls (even reluctant ones like myself) young, middle aged, and old all across the world. That’s pretty impressive for some “fake” emotions